Dual All-Australian Kane Cornes believes reigning premier Geelong is playing like a team that’s “satisfied” after dropping its third-straight game to open the season.
Sunday’s loss to Gold Coast saw the Cats became the only team remaining that’s yet to win a game in 2023, sitting 18th on the ladder with a percentage of 83.
And Cornes suggested the alarm bells should be ringing, highlighting comments from Jeremy Cameron on former AFL player’s Tom Sheridan’s Tommy Talks podcast as further cause from concern where the star forward spoke about his “horrible” first steps back to 2023 pre-season.
Watch every match of every round of the 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
Premiers languishing at bottom of ladder | 00:49
“The knee blew up, limping down the road 300 metres in, skin folds were over 120. All you think about is beer fumes and just food, that many Maccas burgers and hash browns, egg and bacons,” Cameron said on the Tommy Talks podcast.
“It’s a proper month of just (going for it), then it comes a time and it’s like overnight, the fingers just click and you’re like: ‘We have to do it again here’. It’s just a horrible feeling when that comes.
“I still haven’t looked the dietitian in the eye.”
Cornes questioned how other Cats would’ve fared coming off the club’s post-premiership celebrations, noting how he already had queries on the club for looking “a little bit comfortable” in its Round 1 loss to Collingwood.
“Jeremy Cameron can probably get away with that … he’s got the talent to do that and flick the switch,” he said on SEN.
“But if his teammates have also celebrated like that, I’ll ask you the question — can Zach Tuohy get away with living off beer fumes and hash browns for breakfast?
“Can Tom Atkins do the same — because he’s not the same player that was jumping on landmines for his teammates last year. Can Zach Guthrie, Gryan Miers and Brad Close do it?
“Tyson Stengle is a shadow of the All-Australian player that he was last year. Can he do it?
“This is a group that is satisfied.”
It comes after North Melbourne legend David King declared on Fox Footy’s First Crack he thinks Geelong is “cooked” and that its premiership era has come to an end.
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley thinks there’s “little doubt” the Cats would have a sense of complacency with the way they’re currently playing.
And while Geelong coach Chris Scott post-match insisted the club will “react” and not “overreact” in its bid to get its season moving in the right direction, Buckley pointed to how the club has dropped away in multiple areas to simply not look like the same team as last year.
Premiers languishing at bottom of ladder | 00:49
“Chris Scott knows that reactions — and he would see it as an over-reaction — will come. I don’t think it will be an over-reaction, it’ll just be an analysis and a breakdown of what is actually taking place for them,” the Magpies great said on SEN.
“They’re just not defending. Only one team has given up more scores on turnover than Geelong and that’s Hawthorn. Until the weekend when they beat North, we thought they were very poor in their first two games.
“Geelong are last at clearances — they’ve won the least number of clearances in the competition — and we know that’s always been the starting point of any contest.
“They’re third-last for disposal efficiency, their short kicks are last and their effective kicks are last.
“The one thing that really stands out, is after Round 10 last year, they were 18th for long kicks. So they were finding short targets and were high in contested marks, but they still kept flow in their game.
“It said to me they were working really hard for the ball carrier to progress the ball forward to their dangerous forward line.
“In the first three rounds of this year, they’re first for long kicks and last for short kicks, so they’re just going long to contests more often.
“They’re missing that synergy that Chris Scott spoke about that is marginal to whether you win or you lose.
“It’s a come-to-Jesus moment for them. They’ve go to work out exactly where they’re going to go from here.”
Geelong Cats Press Conference | 10:21
Asked if the footy world over-estimated the Cats’ off-season recruits, Buckley said: “Their recruits were never for this year.
“Tanner Bruhn was going to add a little bit to the midfield mix. Jack Bowes should be (helping them improve), but Pick 7 helps them in the long run. And Ollie Henry is going to be better in the next two or three years.
“It’s probably as much about how they look in the next two or three years as opposed to really wanting to go to the well again.”
